Sen. Chris Murphy: Putin making it up

Fresh off a congressional trip to Ukraine, Sen. Chris Murphy on Monday rejected criticisms that Russia’s posture on Ukraine has something to do with the failures of the Obama administration, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin is improvising as he goes.

“I think he is making this up as we go along,” Murphy said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” of Putin’s moves into the Crimean region of Ukraine. “I worry, though, that he’s going to realize he needs to move further than Crimea in order to get the end that he desires here.”

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The Connecticut Democrat called a Sunday referendum in which Crimeans voted to secede from Ukraine and try to join Russia “a sham,” and he said the position of Ukraine overall is embracing Europe and the West, contrary to Putin’s moves.

“What has essentially happened is that the resolve inside Ukraine to join the European Union, turn away from Russia, has hardened the course of the last several weeks,” Murphy said.

“Crimea is important to Russia, but it’s only about 2 million of the 45 million population of Ukraine, and ultimately Putin has put himself in a pretty weak position in the strategic sense because Crimea’s routes, via travel, their gas lines, their water lines, all run through Ukraine. And ultimately, if the end result is the other 43 million join the European Union, this is a huge loss for Putin, not a win.”

Murphy also said President Barack Obama has helped the situation in Ukraine, not hurt it as some of his critics have suggested.

“I think the criticism of the administration is ridiculous,” Murphy said. “Putin, for a long time, has had these extra-territorial ambitions. He invaded Georgia under a Republican president and he’s invaded Ukraine under a Democratic president. The fact is that we are in a position now where the vast majority of Ukraine has turned away from Russia and toward the EU, in part because of the strong position from the administration.”

Murphy said the administration should continue with economic sanctions on Russian companies and support the Ukrainian government and military in nonlethal ways, including rations and communications equipment.